Celebrate Wellington’s Magic Ring
Martin Doyle
I think one of my rugby coaches was a forerunner of Warren Gatland.
One of Gatland’s ‘out of left field’ things he’s done to prepare Wales for this RWC was to take the whole squad to Spala in Poland for Cryotherapy sessions. Each player was placed in his own freezer unit for several minutes a day at dangerously low temperatures of minus-140 degrees. No one is saying, but I think Gatland believed it was the best way to prepare for playing rugby in Wellington. Since they beat Ireland here on Saturday, you’d have to say it worked. Which raises the question: if it worked for Wales, why not for Wellingtonians? If we all went on holiday to the Spala Freeze-Your-Nuts-Off Kamp in Poland once a year, we’d all enjoy the Wellington winter (and summer) a lot more.
In a humble way, it reminds me of my teenage years. Twice a week, our rugby team trained at Evans Bay. And since our school was located near the Basin Reserve, we’d all jog to practice through the Mount Vic Tunnel. Today the Tunnel is relatively clean, but in those days it was like a never-ending nostril blocked with foul transport vapours of almost mucilaginous density [Sorry, it just sounds good]. And it had its rewards. I always felt a sense of relief, even victory, as I staggered, gasping, out into the air and sunlight of Hataitai at the other end.
And around the same time, I read The Hobbit which also featured seemingly endless tunnels. In fact, if the hero Bilbo had not entered the maze of tunnels that led to the dragon treasure, he would never have come across, in the darkness, the Magic Ring. This priceless discovery just seemed to crop up out of nowhere, but had a life of its own. I feel the same way about the Mayor’s wonderful proposal about dispensing with the grotesque Flyover past the Basin and replacing it with a tunnel under the Basin.
This subterranean underpass will leave the Magic Ring round the Basin intact. And most of all, it means we don’t have to live like trailer trash in the shadows under some octopussian concrete overpass.
And tunnels are fun! It’s neat being able to glide through the Terrace Tunnel with its white walls, or get the train under t he goblin mountains into the Wairarapa. I love that down-sloping tunnel that takes you into Seatoun. And the perennially leaking, Waitomo-ish Karori Tunnel, so old that Katherine Mansfield herself would have travelled through it on her way to town. Northland Tunnel is fun with its echos and a choice of footpaths (caged on one side, exposed on the other).
These tunnels are part of the murkily quaint charm of our city. The proposed under-the–basin tunnel will be as discreet and stylish as a bathroom unit. It’s deeply magical in its own way. And unlike the witless-Wellywood idea, it breathes true imagination.
One of Gatland’s ‘out of left field’ things he’s done to prepare Wales for this RWC was to take the whole squad to Spala in Poland for Cryotherapy sessions. Each player was placed in his own freezer unit for several minutes a day at dangerously low temperatures of minus-140 degrees. No one is saying, but I think Gatland believed it was the best way to prepare for playing rugby in Wellington. Since they beat Ireland here on Saturday, you’d have to say it worked. Which raises the question: if it worked for Wales, why not for Wellingtonians? If we all went on holiday to the Spala Freeze-Your-Nuts-Off Kamp in Poland once a year, we’d all enjoy the Wellington winter (and summer) a lot more.
In a humble way, it reminds me of my teenage years. Twice a week, our rugby team trained at Evans Bay. And since our school was located near the Basin Reserve, we’d all jog to practice through the Mount Vic Tunnel. Today the Tunnel is relatively clean, but in those days it was like a never-ending nostril blocked with foul transport vapours of almost mucilaginous density [Sorry, it just sounds good]. And it had its rewards. I always felt a sense of relief, even victory, as I staggered, gasping, out into the air and sunlight of Hataitai at the other end.
And around the same time, I read The Hobbit which also featured seemingly endless tunnels. In fact, if the hero Bilbo had not entered the maze of tunnels that led to the dragon treasure, he would never have come across, in the darkness, the Magic Ring. This priceless discovery just seemed to crop up out of nowhere, but had a life of its own. I feel the same way about the Mayor’s wonderful proposal about dispensing with the grotesque Flyover past the Basin and replacing it with a tunnel under the Basin.
This subterranean underpass will leave the Magic Ring round the Basin intact. And most of all, it means we don’t have to live like trailer trash in the shadows under some octopussian concrete overpass.
And tunnels are fun! It’s neat being able to glide through the Terrace Tunnel with its white walls, or get the train under t he goblin mountains into the Wairarapa. I love that down-sloping tunnel that takes you into Seatoun. And the perennially leaking, Waitomo-ish Karori Tunnel, so old that Katherine Mansfield herself would have travelled through it on her way to town. Northland Tunnel is fun with its echos and a choice of footpaths (caged on one side, exposed on the other).
These tunnels are part of the murkily quaint charm of our city. The proposed under-the–basin tunnel will be as discreet and stylish as a bathroom unit. It’s deeply magical in its own way. And unlike the witless-Wellywood idea, it breathes true imagination.
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